ELK GROVE, Calif. – Senior shortstop Isabella Barge's triple and senior center fielder Alexis McFarland's bases-loaded hit highlighted a three-run rally in the second, but St. Francis saw that 3-0 lead erode to a 5-3 loss to host Franklin in non-league girls' prep softball action Friday.

The Troubadours slip to 1-3 for the year, suffering their third straight loss to former Delta League foes. The Wildcats snag their third consecutive win to improve to 4-1 overall.

Six different SF players each had hits, with Barge's triple and Marissa Jensen's double to lead off the sixth going for extra bases. Freshman Lillyana Perkins, sophomore Olivia Meisner and senior Jaeya Leavitt also rapped out singles. Meanwhile, Franklin managed just five hits, with starter Kaili Heeb allowing only one in her four complete innings in the circle.

Barge laced her triple with one out in the second, then Meisner drove in the Yale commit two batters later to put SF on the board. Chloe Hoertsch reached on an error, and Leavitt followed with a hit to left to jam the bases: Leavitt on first, Hoertsch's courtesy runner Ariella Alcantar on second, and Meisner on third. That's when McFarland poked a 1-1 pitch to right, bringing across two more runs before Franklin sophomore Leilani Garcia ended the two-out Troubie rally.

The Wildcats erased that lead with three runs in the fourth, oddly on one official at-bat: two walks, two hit batters and two sacrifice flies. Stranger still, is that the inning ended on a hit: shortstop Madison Ortega ripped a single to McFarland, who fired home to Hoertsch in an effort to freeze Leah Pham at third. Ortega attempted to move up 60 feet on that throw, only to be gunned down by Hoertsch.

Franklin claimed the lead in its fifth, with Kayly Wood leading off with a single then scoring on two-bagger off the bat of senior catcher Julissa Sandoval. SF reliever Gabriela Liasos retired three of the next four to escape any further damage.

Jensen got the Troubies started with her leadoff double in the sixth, but Garcia got ahead in counts against each of the next three batters – 0-1, 0-2 and 0-2 – to put down SF in order and strand the future Cal State San Marcos outfielder on the basepaths.

Franklin tacked on one more run on an error and a passed ball in the sixth, then held St. Francis scoreless in the seventh to complete the win.

St. Francis returns to action on Wednesday for a non-league matchup against Vista Del Lago. The game should become the Troubies' true home opener, as previous Schuster Field games against River City (Feb. 20) and Elk Grove (Wednesday) were relocated in the wake of recent rainfall. First pitch is 3:30 p.m.